They couldn't stop him. An 18-year-old consumed psilocybin mushrooms, also known as magic mushrooms, with friends. Two people also took mushrooms, and another person limited himself to smoking weed. During the session, the 18-year-old initially isolated himself from the others in the bathroom. Suddenly he came out naked, behaved unusually aggressively and showed a strong urge to jump from the balcony.

The other two people, who were also on a mushroom trip, were too busy with themselves to intervene. The person, who was just stoned, tried to stop him, but couldn't prevent the accident. The 18-year-old did not survive the fall from the second floor.

Fatal accidents following psilocybin are rare, but do occur

How could that happen? Examinations of the stomach contents as well as further blood and urine analyzes led to the conclusion that he was actually only under the influence of psilocybin. The cannabis active ingredient THC could only be detected in low concentrations. This suggests that the last joint was some time ago and did not play a role at the time of the accident.

The 18-year-old grew the mushrooms himself in his apartment. His friends said he had consumed the mushrooms in the past to overcome his shyness. But that is certainly not enough to explain his behavior. There were no other signs of psychological problems.

The medical team reporting on the case has researched other cases. According to the research, fatal accidents appear to be rare, but they do occur from time to time. According to the authors, the case of the 18-year-old demonstrates that a trip can be associated with incalculable risks even under seemingly safe conditions, such as consumption with friends.

Low toxicity, but exceptional psychological situation

The immediate toxicity of psilocybin, however, is rather low. Based on animal experiments with rats, it can be estimated that an adult human would have to eat around 17 kilograms of fresh psilocybin mushrooms to absorb a potentially fatal dose. Since the body usually reacts with nausea and vomiting at this amount, it is not to be expected that users will die from the immediate effect. Above all, it is unexpected behavior that can lead to life-threatening accidents when intoxicated.

However, the dose can play a role. The higher the amount of psilocybin consumed, the higher the likelihood of particularly intense intoxication. Intoxication can cause exceptional psychological situations, particularly in inexperienced people, but also in experienced people. This is shown by a survey among consumers in which almost 2,000 people took part.

Horror trip even for experienced consumers

Study leader Roland Griffiths and his team from Johns Hopkins University in the USA asked those surveyed to remember their worst mushroom horror trip and to provide information about it. As was to be expected, the majority of participants took part who had had multiple experiences with hallucinogenic mushrooms. Her worst horror trip was preceded by between six and ten episodes of mushroom consumption. At the time of the survey they were on average 30 years old.

Around three quarters of those surveyed said that they were actually in good spirits before their horror trip. Most of them consumed with friends and felt that they were in good hands. However, only three percent of those surveyed had a “tripsitter” on their side. This is a person who stays sober and can help if the worst comes to the worst.